1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of fuel economy management and pertains particularly to a system for collecting fuel consumption data and driving behavioral data from a monitored vehicle and providing feedback information to a user.
2. Discussion of the State of the Art
In the field of fuel economy management, there is currently no simple method for collecting fuel consumption data and driving behavioral data and processing those data to derive ongoing fuel economy information that may be made available to consumers. Most consumers have no real idea about the actual fuel efficiency of their vehicles under operating conditions. To manage fuel economy, consumers typically monitor their fuel consumption manually such as by filling up the fuel tank with known capacity and then logging mileage driven until the next refill. These rather inefficient and non-standardized processes can lead operators to spend more money than necessary on fuel for their vehicles.
Therefore, what is clearly needed is an inexpensive system that automatically gathers and reports the fuel consumption data of a vehicle in operation and, if desired, the driving behaviors of the operator and processes the data along with fuel costs relative to locality or region of operation to help drivers lower fuel costs by improving fuel efficiency.